October 1, 2025

Hello Fellow members,

I hope y’all are doing well and getting ready to enjoy the cooler weather we typically see this time of year. September has been a busy month for Judy and I personally and for the chapter as well.

We paid a couple of visits to Bill Baker’s shop to clean it up and catalogue the contents. We will be having a “friends and family sale” in the near future and invite you and anyone you know to attend and get some really good deals on tools, machines, storage cabinets, benches and supplies. I will be sending out a list of most of the items there as well as some photos later this week. Keep in mind that all proceeds from this sale benefit the chapter!

Judy and I had the pleasure of attending the ACBS Vintage Boating Week International Show and 50th anniversary celebration in Clayton, NY. Kudos to all involved in putting on a fantastic event that featured well over 100 boats, lots of cruises, lots of food and drink, lots of fellowship and a solid week of great weather. Our chapter was well represented with 14 primary members and 4 secondary members in attendance. Our chapter also won the coveted “Broken Gunwale” award for our poker run debacle.  Robert Blanchard won a silver award from the judges for “Li’l Rascal”, his 18’ Chris Craft Sea Skiff. Member David Printy also won a silver award for this boat “Reflections” in the antique restoration runabout class.  John Coffman won a gold award for his boat “Made in the Shade.”  As the old saying goes, a good time was had by all!

Last but not least, we had our own chapter show on the 27th at the Cypress Landing Yacht Club in Chocowinity, NC. The show was largely the work of Eileen and Larry Lettick, and they did a fantastic job of bringing it all together. The plan was to have the local car club to display as well. All week long leading up to the show, we kept a sharp weather eye out. There was one active tropical system and a possible second brewing that were presenting all kinds of possibilities, none of them good. As the week progressed, it started to look like we could expect to get wet for a while but not totally washed out. Using the logic that boats are meant to get wet, the decision was made to damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead! We did have a little sprinkle in the first hour, it remained dry for the rest of the show. We ended up with a dozen boats shown on land, a couple of antique outboards, some wooden boat models and toy outboard motors. The only car that spent any time there was a miniature wooden bodied model A Ford that the owner/builder drove around in. Thanks to all of you who braved the weather forecast and made this event a success.

Yours in classic boating,   

Alan Hills, President